Kasey Michaels - How to Tame a Lady

She should have remembered that she still had to sit up beside the man all the way back to London.

She’d run all the way back to the inn, only skidding to a halt before she took a deep, steadying breath and rejoined her sister and Lord Yalding in the dining room, finding them still deep in conversation, so that neither of them even noticed that she’d returned.

Lucas had entered some minutes later, saying he’d settled their bill of fare with the innkeeper and that they should probably get back to the city soon, before the unpredictable weather took another turn for the worse.

“Don’t say a word,” she warned him as he joined her on the seat of the curricle after handing her up first. “Not a single word.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Lucas told her. “But may I at least thank you? That was a most…interesting kiss. Daresay your first? I’m flattered.”

“That’s nothing to the point.” She narrowed her eyes as she turned to glare at him. “And, may I add, that’s also not what I meant by not saying anything. You’re supposed to be a gentleman.”

“I am a gentleman. A lesser man would have grabbed you and shown you what a real kiss is, but I restrained myself. In point of fact, I’m rather proud of my self-control, if not actually amazed at my gentlemanly behavior in the teeth of temptation.”

“How gratifying for you, my lord, I’m sure. I cannot say the same for myself.” Nicole took a deep breath and turned her attention to the scenery on her side of the road. “We shouldn’t see each other again, at least not willingly. Although I do suppose we’ll inevitably run into each other from time to time, at which point we will of course be civil to each other, especially if Lydia or Rafe is watching. Will you be at Lady Cornwallis’s ball?”

“I will be now, yes,” Lucas said, infuriating her, except for the traitorous parts of her that were delighted to hear the news. “But I believe I shall be able to restrain myself from tossing you to the floor and ravishing you during the Scottish Reel, if that’s what worries you. As for your behavior, I really can’t be certain, can I? After all, I wasn’t the one who…went on the attack.”

“Yes, and I’m glad I did,” she said with as much bravado as she could muster, “for now that my perfectly reasonable curiosity has been satisfied, I find that you are not as much of a problem as I’d believed you might be.”

“The kiss was a failure?”

As if she’d tell him otherwise—he was already entirely too smug to make her happy! And she’d certainly never let on how happy she was that he seemed to wish to continue…pursuing her. So much easier than her having to chase him, she concluded, while also deciding that she may be her own worst enemy when it came to defending her determined heart-whole plans for her life.

“Since I feel no great need to repeat the exercise, I would rather say it was a resounding success. Watch what you’re doing, my lord. You nearly ran us into that ditch.”

“Forgive me,” Lucas said, facing forward and taking control of his team once more.

Perhaps she’d gone too far? Charlotte was always warning her that her sometimes outrageous speech and actions could drive an anchorite to strong drink. Nicole was silent for nearly the length of a mile, wondering if he’d meant she should forgive him for the kiss, or for nearly running them into a ditch, before admitting quietly, “It wasn’t all that terrible.”

“I beg your pardon? I’m afraid I’ve lost track of the last few turns in this conversation.”

She rolled her eyes. He wasn’t making things any easier for her, was he, and that he was doing it on purpose was obvious. “I said, it wasn’t all that terrible. The kiss, I mean. I still like you, much as I don’t want to. I think we may both be quite insane, and I know you shouldn’t be behaving toward me the way you are, or I toward you, but I still like you. I don’t know why.”

“You can’t help yourself, as I’m naturally charming,” Lucas told her, handing over the reins once more. Nicole wondered if he’d made the gesture as a peace offering, but wasn’t about to reject his offer. “Cock your wrists just a bit more—ah, that’s it. Now, taking into account Fletcher’s possible impending apoplexy behind us, take them through their paces, because I know you’re dying to. The road is straight here and no one is visible for a good half mile.”

She sliced a quick look at him, once more in charity with the man. In truth, she doubted she could ever stay angry with him, which probably didn’t bode well for either of them, now that she thought of the thing. “You mean it? I’m good enough? Or are you simply trying to apologize to me?”

“Since I have a healthy regard for the state of my neck and being tossed from this seat is not in my immediate plans simply to make you happy, yes, I mean it. And I’m apologizing. Is it working?”

“I think so, yes. I apologize, as well. I’m well aware that I behaved very badly, even if I was goaded into it,” she told him, for that was as close to an apology as she could muster. Then she turned her attention entirely to the horses, flicking the reins lightly so that they moved out of their easy canter. She felt the breeze tugging at the brim of her bonnet and smiled. “Ah, heaven.”

“And tomorrow, if the weather remains fair, we’ll do something about exercising your mare. Juliet, isn’t it?”

She nodded, her eyes still on the roadway ahead of them. “Oh, all right, I agree. Only because you’re, as you so modestly say, so charming. But don’t think that anything will come of it, my lord. There will be no more kisses.”

“Well, now I’m crushed. But I agree, there will no more kisses like the one you think we shared at the inn.”

Confound the man! She heard his words, but could not help wondering if he was actually saying the opposite of what she might think those words meant. His smile told her she could be right. “We’ll go on as we began—as friends.”

“Until and unless you want something more or less, yes. But I am not without my motives for agreeing to this, Nicole. After giving the idea far less thought than I probably should have before speaking to you, I wish to strike a bargain between us. One you might consider an invitation to adventure. You did say you wanted adventures while you’re here in London.”

As they turned at a bend in the road and other vehicles appeared, he took back the reins. She didn’t argue with him. She was much too intrigued by the tone of his voice. “That sounds ominous. You have motives? ”

“From time to time,” he said, looking at her rather intently. “Let me just say this quickly before my better judgment rears its head. For reasons I won’t bore you with, I believe it might be in my best interests to be considered a love-struck fool for the next few weeks. Or, in other words, harmless.”

Now this was interesting, intriguing. “Only an idiot would ever consider you harmless. To what purpose?”

“That’s not important. Just hear me out, Nicole, please. We’ve cried friends, we’ve warned each other off, more than once. We neither of us want entanglements at this time. You agree?”

The sun was still shining, yet Nicole suddenly felt very much in the shade. “That’s what we said. All right, yes, we’re…friends.”

“So if I agree to allow you to drive my curricle, if I take you for gallops with your Juliet—and anything else you might desire, within reason, of course—will you agree to be my companion in Society? Only for a few weeks at the outside, I promise. Then you can be seen to very publicly dash my expectations and move on to greener pastures in ample time to break at least a dozen more hearts before the end of the Season, both of us knowing we’d only been playing out a charade of sorts, and no harm done to either of us.”